MARY ELIZABETH (CLANCY) RUTHERFORD
Submitted by Frank Butcher, updated
May 28, 2007
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Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Clancy's life is a story of perseverance in the face of
great hardship and misfortune, a testimony of how a faith in God and a sense of
humor can allow a person to remain cheerful and positive in the hardest of
times. Lizzie was the first of 12 children born to Alfred Joseph (Job) and Sarah Elizabeth Ganey Clancy. She was born in Pike County, Alabama and came with her parents to Grimes County, Texas shortly before 1870. Her formal schooling in Alabama extended only through the third grade. Lizzie married Sam Rutherford on 24 December 1873 and the couple started their family near the Johnson County town of Alvarado. The couple had seven children: Lucy, who died as an infant, Beatrice, who died of pneumonia at the age of four, and Naoma, Frances Aline (Allie), Bob, Will, and Hassie. Within a week of Hassie's birth, Sam died of pneumonia. Lizzie never remarried and raised her family alone, moving to Groesbeck to be near her daughter, Naoma, who had married and moved to that town. She eventually moved in with Naoma when Naoma’s husband, George Rutherford (no kin), died. Lizzie had to be both father and mother to her family, and was known to go hunting with her boys, who became excellent marksmen under her tutelage. The most tragic episode in Lizzie's life involved the death of her sons, Bob and Will. Will Rutherford married Katherine (Katie) Thomason, and the young couple had two children, Eva and Lena. Katie's dad, Daniel Benjamin Thomason, had given his daughter 30 acres of land in March of 1902. Katie died a few months later of pneumonia at the age of 23, and on her deathbed asked Lizzie not to allow Eva (5 months old) and Lena (2 years old) to be raised by her family, the Thomasons. Her father and brothers (Wal and Charlie) were heavy drinkers and mean, and Katie did not want her children to be raised in that environment. Katie also asked to be buried with Rutherford kin because of the love she had been shown by that family. So Lizzie undertook to help Will raise the girls. Complicating the situation was the fact that Lizzie's daughter, Allie, was married to Wal Thomason, son of Daniel, which made him a brother-in-law to Will. After Katie’s death, Daniel Thomason wanted his 30-acre gift back, and pressured Will to return it. Will told the elder Thomason that he could not do that since the deed to the 30 acres was in the name of Katie, Eva and Lena, but that the Thomasons were welcome to use the land since it was too little for him to farm and that he and Bob were going to Palestine to work as carpenters. This explanation did little to satisfy Daniel and tensions built up. One might also speculate that some of the hard feelings had to do with Daniel’s daughter, Katie, showing a preference for the Rutherford family over her own kin. Bob and Will were warned by their sister, Allie (Wal's wife), to avoid the Thomasons because they were drinking heavily and planning mischief, but the boys apparently took this warning too lightly. Bob and Will were loading firewood into their wagon at Red Hill (possibly on the disputed land) when Wal and his father rode up, dismounted and began to converse with Will who was sitting in his wagon. What happened next is in dispute. The Thomasons contend that the discussion was about “rent cotton due”, while others say that the Thomasons had consulted with attorneys about the disputed land that morning and then went to confront the Rutherfords. Bob, who was initially at a nearby spring getting water, walked up unarmed, and cursed at Daniel, provoking gunfire from the Thomasons (probably Daniel). Bob was shot first, then Will grabbed a gun from under the seat of the wagon and shot Daniel Thomason through the heart, killing him instantly. At Will's funeral, the preacher commented, "If ever there was a bullet directed by God, it was the bullet that Will Rutherford shot through Daniel Thomason's heart". As Will climbed down from the wagon, he was shot 5 times by Wal, dying where he fell. Bob Rutherford managed to get to the porch of a nearby house where Wal caught up with him. Bob pleaded with Wal, "For God's sake, don't shoot me again. You've already killed me". Wal is alleged to have replied, "Yes, and by God, I'm going to finish the job", before shooting Bob to death on the porch. A newspaper account said that Bob was shot three times. Wal was arrested, released on bail and, in fear of being lynched, fled to Louisiana where he stayed for a year with his uncle, John Thomason. When Wal returned, he was tried and acquitted because there were no reliable witnesses, and his Uncle John paid for him to be represented by top lawyers. The story is told that after the trial, as Wal drove his wagon past her house, Lizzie grabbed a gun, aimed at Wal, and pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired. When her brother, Ben Clancy, saw what happened, he drew his pistol and tried to shoot Wal, but it also misfired. Ben was so angry that he took the offending gun to the woodpile and chopped it to bits with an axe. Lizzie interpreted this turn of events as a divine sign that it was not God's will for her to seek revenge for the killing of her sons. Lizzie's daughter, Allie Rutherford Thomason (whose brothers had been killed by her husband, Wal) and her year-old daughter, Kate, lived with Lizzie for three years, estranged from her husband. Eventually Allie went back to Wal, possibly because she was fearful for the family's well being in light of threats from Wal. The consequence of her return was that Allie was estranged from her mother and Rutherford and Clancy kin who were greatly angered by Allie’s reconciliation with a husband who had killed her two brothers. Even 40 years after the killings, resentment in the Clancy and Rutherford families was such that when Lizzie died, her obituary did not include Allie as one of the surviving children. Lizzie’s granddaughter, Eva Rutherford, insists that Lizzie told Allie that she would always be welcome in her house, but that she (Lizzie) could never visit Allie at Wal's. Other members of the Clancy family have a contrary opinion and say that Lizzie made her children promise never to mention Allie’s name again. Lizzie’s grandchildren report that Lizzie did occasionally visit with Allie at Kate and Bart Lenamon’s home, and it is known that Lizzie wrote to Allie when she traveled. These contacts suggest that Lizzie eventually forgave her daughter for going back to Wal. The disputed 30 acres of land was eventually sold by Lizzie to purchase a piano for Will and Katie’s girls. More grief was added to Lizzie's life in 1904 when her daughter Naoma died, leaving her three children, Henry and twins Claude and Clyde, for Lizzie to raise. So Lizzie, who had already raised five of her own children to maturity, now had 5 grandchildren to raise. To make a living for her new family, Lizzie at first tried to operate a hotel, but found that to be incompatible with the job of being a mother. She took in sewing, and raised vegetables in a garden that was reputed to be "the best in Groesbeck". Lizzie kept a cow for milk, raised and killed one hog a year for meat, and somehow managed to keep the family afloat. Compounding Lizzie’s heartache, Clyde and Claude fought on the front lines during World War I and both suffered lingering health problems resulting from shell shock and exposure to poison gas. In spite of all of her misfortune and hardship, Lizzie had a jovial (Irish) personality, and was prone to practical jokes. Once she dressed up as a man to scare the ladies next door whose husbands were out of town. The ladies called the police, so good was her act. The police chief threatened to jail Lizzie and lock himself in the cell with her. Lizzie replied to the effect that he might lock her up, but he was darned sure not going to be in that cell with her. Lizzie came from a family of 12 Clancy children, known for their practical joking. One favorite story involves the boys, who painted the penis of their youngest brother with black shoe polish while he was sleeping. (He must have been a sound sleeper.) The older boys had set the stage for this prank by telling him that if he dreamed about certain sexual activities, his privates would turn black, rot, and fall off. The next morning the youngster was nearly hysterical and his brothers had a great time at his expense. On another occasion the preacher visited Lizzie, curious to know why her children were at church each Sunday but Lizzie was not. Lizzie told him "Next Sunday, you come to my house, cook breakfast, dress my five kids for church, and then get lunch started--and I'll go to church and preach for you". The preacher told Lizzie that he wouldn't bother her again. Although Lizzie was working too hard for regular church attendance, she was a very religious woman, reading her Bible daily. To many of her grandchildren Lizzie was known as “Mammy” and some were convinced that Lizzie possessed psychic powers. As evidence, granddaughter Kate Lenamon told the story of Lizzie jumping up from her work at the sewing machine, exclaiming, “Oh my God, I’ve got to go! Bob’s been thrown!” A subsequent search for Lizzie’s son, Bob, found him injured and afoot after being thrown from his horse. One grandson remembered Lizzie sitting at the table in her large kitchen, equipped with a Hoosier style cabinet and kerosene stove, eating bread and honey. Lizzie loved honey, and was convinced that it was good for her. She would teach grandkids to do “knocks” on the table with the knuckles and palm of both hands. “Mammy would sit at a table and, making loose fists, rap on the table with her knuckles and the heels of both hands. The result would be a rhythmic knocking sound. She had a number of patterns she could do and would do it for extended periods - sometimes to amuse us kids and some times just to pass the time.” As an older lady, Lizzie lost her eyesight. Her granddaughter Eva confessed that she was very resentful that "mama" lost her sight since Lizzie had already gone through so much. Lizzie told Eva that she was wrong to think that way, because God had been good to her, allowing her to retain her hearing. Lizzie said that she remembered how her children and her grand and great grandchildren looked, and was thankful that she could hear them when they talked to her. She was able to listen to the radio, to the preacher, to political speeches, and could hear the birds sing. Lizzie told Eva "If I kept my sight I might have lost my strength. I just thank the good Lord for all that I have been given". Eventually Lizzie went to stay in Houston with her daughter, Hassie. She suffered from the effects of a stroke and fell down the stairs at Hassie's house, broke her neck, and died the next day at the age of 91. Lizzie is buried in the Faulkenberry Cemetery in Groesbeck, in the family plot with her grandsons, Claude and Clyde, daughter Naoma, and Naoma’s husband, George Rutherford. Lizzie seemed to have a "saying" for just about any occasion, and they must have made an impression on her children and grandchildren, because a substantial list was compiled and shared with her descendants. Some sayings are probably Clancy originals, and some are certainly not, but all of them speak to her character: * You didn't mean to do it, but you sure got there in time to do it. * Just remember--You like your friends, faults and all, or you don't like your friends at all. * You can't help the way you are born, but you can surely help the way you die. * A woman can throw away more at the back door than a man can bring in the front door. * It isn't what you have been, but what you are today. * It isn't what you make that counts, it's what you save. * Willful waste makes woeful want. * Never tell what you can or can't do. It doesn't take a smart person to find out what you can do. * Before finding fault with the other person, take inventory of yourself. * Hard work never killed anyone, but worry will. * If you have hard jobs to do, tackle the hardest one first and you will enjoy doing the easy ones. * It only takes minutes to make a mess, but it takes hours to clean it up. * Every pancake has two sides, even though one side is browner than the other. * If you can't say something good about a person--don't say anything. * It is easy to love someone who loves you, but it takes a real Christian to love someone who does not love you. * If you cannot keep a secret, do not expect that the other person you tell it to will keep it. * Be careful what you say when you are not feeling well--the person you say it to may not feel too well either. * When you make your tracks, do not expect someone else to cover them up for you. * Do not say what you would or would not do. Put yourself in the other's place and you might not do as well as he. * When you marry it is a 50/50 agreement, but most of the time you will go 3/4 of the way. * Just remember--Ill words spoken are like chaff in the wind; once they are spoken they can never be taken back. * Just remember--The one you marry will be the parent of your child. * Get a smile on your lips. They could get stepped on held so far out. * Remember--God made you, but you are responsible for what you become. * Just remember--You have a good name, so live up to it. * The man who curses doesn't show strength, he shows weakness. * Two bad paymasters are ones who pay too soon and ones who never pay. * We like comers and goers, but not comers and stayers. * If you tell one lie, it takes a thousand to explain that one. * Watch what you say for you never know what influence you are having on the other person. * You can't believe all that you hear, and only half of what you see. * If you do a kindness for a neighbor, do not accept anything for it -- that kills the deed. * Later if they want to do something for you, that is ok. * Don’t ever marry someone beneath you as you can never bring him up to your standard, but he can bring you down to his. * Don't expect anything and you won't be disappointed. * If things are pleasant, life is too short, but if they are not, then life is too long. * If you lose a loved one or friend, always think of the nice things you did for each other and the good times you had together while they were here. * Don't ever say your child wouldn't do this or that, for what your neighbor's child does, yours is liable to do. * You can't buy love--you just pass it on. * Be a good listener and you will be a good conversationalist. * A long little is better than a short heap. * You can be a lady regardless of the circumstances. * It isn't what you have, it is the way you take care of it. * It is never too late to apologize for something you have said or done. * Keep your temper; no one else wants it. * Actions speak louder than words. * Every tub must sit on its own bottom. * Remember--Tomorrow never comes, so make the best of today. * A woman can make or break a man. * The way to success is looking ahead and up, not behind and down. * Giving is living. * Jealousy is as cruel as the grave. * Do not have your fun at the other fellow's expense. * Never start a bad habit and you will not have to worry about quitting it. * Everything that God made is good. It is what man makes out of it that makes it bad. * If you make your bed hard, remember that you are going to be the one to lie on it. * You are judged by the company you keep. * Don't bite off more than you can chew. * Beware of a man's compliments, they seldom mean what they say. But a woman does, for she seldom pays you one. * Children, as you are now, so once was I; but as I am now, so you must be. Prepare yourselves to follow me. Considering the heartbreaks and tragedies of her life, one might expect to see a saying like "when it rains, it pours" on the above list. However, Lizzie was ever the positive person, and that kind of remark would be too negative to be included in her repertoire. POSTSCRIPT There are competing versions of the shootout between the Thomasons and Rutherfords and events that followed. This bit of history was a taboo topic in the Wal and Allie Thomason household, and children and grandchildren only learned about it from sources very remote to the actual event. This silence seems to have led to an abundance of speculation and rumors. I have chosen to mostly accept the account of the person closest to the principals, Eva Rutherford, who was Will's daughter, and who was raised by Lizzie (whom she called 'Mama'). Eva heard from Lizzie the account of the gunfight, and had first hand knowledge of other facts concerning Lizzie. Eva was interviewed in 1996 at the age of 94 to get the information for this article. Eva’s mind was sharp, and although oral history can be subject to personal bias and inaccuracies, her account was quite compelling. As written in this article, I have combined Eva’s story with court records relating the Thomason version, to produce a most likely (in my opinion) scenario of events. One version of the shootout I have chosen to discount was related in a letter written by Troy Thomason in 1987: “Seems ‘Dee’ (Daniel Thomason) and son Wal were in a wagon when Wal’s two brother-in-laws came up and shot Dee. Wal killed one immediately and killed the second as he was trying to enter a house (Dad said he was going in to get a shotgun). Wal rode a horse all the way to my grandfather Wallace A. Thomason’s place at Old Union.... my father Henry was there when he arrived, said horse was staggering from fatigue. Wal went to Provencal, Louisiana for about a year and lived with his Uncle John Thomason’s folks.” There are at least three problems with this account that cause me to doubt its veracity: First, the Rutherfords were cutting firewood, and it was the Thomasons who sought them out, making it more likely that the Thomasons started the fight. Secondly, Wal’s flight to Louisiana is hardly the action of an innocent victim. Finally, if the Rutherfords planned and initiated the shooting, why would one of them have to go to a nearby house to get a weapon after the gunfire started? Another version related to me by a member of the Thomason family was that Daniel Thomason’s daughter, Katie, who was married to Will Rutherford, had tuberculosis. Supposedly, Will was going to move his family to West Texas where the climate would be easier on his wife. Daniel was angered by this planned move, leading to an eventual confrontation and shootout. According to this story, Katie and Will’s daughters, Eva and Lena, were then raised by Jo Thomason (Daniel’s wife). Two facts argue against this version of events. First, Katie was already deceased at the time of the shootout, making moot any plans that her husband had for a move. Additionally and indisputably, Eva and Lena were raised by Lizzie Rutherford as told by Eva, and described previously in this article. Frances DuPlantis remembers being told by her grandmother Allie (Wal’s wife), that Wal told Allie late in their marriage that he greatly regretted the incident--that “it never should have been”, and that Wal blamed it on his “not having been raised right.” This statement from Wal himself, strongly suggests that the blame for this tragic event rests primarily with the Thomasons. Frank Butcher 2007 |